A look of love

This is Lisbeth, mother of Adam Bede, looking closely at the beloved face of Dinah, who would become her daughter-in-law. She looks for an affirmation of gentleness and purity, which she finds. Elsewhere, George Eliot describes Lisbeth herself as being ‘clean as a snowdrop’.

‘… and looked at her face, as one looks into a newly-gathered snowdrop.’